Gyanesh Kumar was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India on 17 February 2025. He is a 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre and is senior to the two other commissioners on the three-member panel that was led by Rajiv Kumar. 
♦ The government also announced the appointment of Vivek Joshi as Election Commissioner. The other commissioner on the panel is Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. 
♦ This is the first appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioner Act, 2023 which came into force in December 2023.